American Indian Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture

The wide variety and splendid artistry of American Indian visual arts is powerfully illustrated in the remarkable range of available paintings, drawings, and sculptures. From token totems to striking sand paintings, American Indian art tells the story of both tribal histories and artistic evolution.

Since the dawn of the great Native American tribes, their people chronicled their history through the arts. Songs told of ancestral heroes, and paintings recounted major triumphs and elements of tribal significance. The arts proved essential in carrying this vast history.

At the same time, these paintings, drawings, and sculpture allows for artistic ingenuity. Drawn geometric patterns and painted symbolic motifs served in some cases as means of identifying a particular tribe or person while adding to the visual richness of the piece. These artistic traditions spawned from these early days are carried on by American Indians today.

Quick Facts

• The oldest recorded art object from American Indian culture dates to 11,000 B.C. Found near Vero Beach, Florida, it is a small segment of bone with a carved representation of a mammoth in profile
• The tallest carved totem on record stands near Alert Bay along the western coast of British Columbia. Measuring 173 feet tall, the totem is actually three individual poles stacked on top of each other
• The Navajo tribe of the American southwest perfected the art of sand paintings, which give their compositions a textural quality